Jogging in City

We all know the benefits of jogging to life longevity, cardiovascular health, prevention of diseases like diabetes, blood pressure & others. City offers many advantages & disadvantages that we've to take into account while jogging. Things to consider in a city while jogging are:

Deal with Traffic Smartly

In a city, vehicles are the primary source of transportation which makes travelling comfortable. This has added to no.of vehicles on the road. While the city roads are of very good quality, consider how to deal with traffic. The best way to deal with traffic is to not deal with it. Prefer to jog early in the morning anywhere between 5 AM to 7 AM. It has 2 advantages: roads are free & air is freshest with cool atmosphere.

If you're worried about the pollution in city, it's ok to jog. Jog for your health because benefits of jogging far outweigh hazards of vehicle pollution. Today vehicles are made with keeping PSI (Pollution Standard Index) in mind.

If you work late hours, jogging early is difficult. Considering this you might go for a jog between 8 AM to 10 AM or at evening. There are 2 ways to make best use of the conditions:

1. Brisk Walk  +  Jogging

You'll need to be proactive. Before going to jog during peak hours, decide that during peak hour you'll jog when the road is free & do brisk walk aggressively when road congested to clear all the obstacles coming in the way & make your way always. Keep your brisk walk & jogging speed little bit same so that you are in some sort of rhythm.  If you don't do this it's easy to get frustrated by obstacles.

2. Jog Opposite Direction in Peak Hour

During peak hours vehicles move from suburban to city area in morning & vice versa at evening. While jogging, run on opposite road i.e. road for city to suburban during morning & suburban to city at evening. That way you've to face little less traffic which is good.

If jogging with a partner, run one-behind-another instead of side-by-side.

Buy a good quality latest jogging shoes as these shoes have inbuilt reflectors on them.

Get More out of Jogging in Parks & Stadiums

Cities along with having good roads also have other recreation centers like parks & stadium. If you don't jog too fast or do brisk walk, parks are a perfect place. Parks are open for a good amount of time which makes you choose when you want to jog. Parks are abundant in greenery, contain  fresh air which has proved to stimulate mental health.

While you're jogging in park, many people are also walking there & you'll find yourself frequently getting stopped, which makes me frustrate for a short time. To deal with it, understand that they are not as speedy as you or they are doing a different activity than you. They do not have the intention of stopping you. Just keep moving on.

Park surfaces are uneven. Watch out for uneven area & slow down the pace a little to avoid making uneven impact on your knees & ankles.

Jogging in stadium can be done little faster & it's synthetic track is also softer on your body if you're just starting out.

Cities have best quality gyms which gives a  option for jogging on a treadmill if you're constrained inside for some reason. It can be intensified like jogging outside by adding inclines and doing intervals i.e. jogging fast then slowing & repeating this for many cycles.

There are many advantages to jogging by living in a city which many of us enjoy like:

1. You can find jogging apparels easily & in many varieties
2. Gyms, parks are located nearby. Almost every area has atleast 1 gym & a park.
3. Training for a marathon is easier as you will easily find marathon groups & instructors.
4. City people are generally more aware of fitness than countryside folks. So get out to jog in a city & you'll easily find a jogging partner.

Ricky